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Cramping Our Lifestyles PDF Print E-mail
by Gloria Gilbčre, N.D., DAHOM., Ph.D.
Cramping Our Lifestyels

Individuals suffering from digestive disorders such as cramping, bloating, bowel irritation, diarrhea, constipation and reoccurring bladder and urinary tract irritations know how these disorders "cramp" our lifestyles, not to mention the discomfort.

Research suggests that most abdominal complaints are associated with altered levels of healthenhancing gastrointestinal bacteria, or microflora. Specifically, beneficial microflora, such as probiotics containing Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium, have demonstrated clinical effectiveness in relieving these symptoms and improving reported quality of life (see study graphs below).

Clinical Study Demonstrates Probiotics' Effectiveness
In a clinical analysis of 26 patients with abdominal complaints, study subjects received a combination probiotics formula that included L. acidophilus NCFM and B. lactis B1-07.

After just four weeks, the patients' average score on a questionnaire designed to evaluate the frequency of abdominal complaints decreased from 38.4 to 18.7, suggesting significant clinical improvements when supplemented with a probiotics complex.ą (top study graph)

Patients' scores on the questionnaire designed to assess quality of life increased from 63.3 to 84.5, indicating notable improvements in general physical symptoms.˛ (bottom study graph)

Natural Defenders
For over a hundred years, research has been conducted in lactobacillic cultures, and many amazing facts about their "probiotic" nature have been clinically established. Probiotics refers to those microorganisms which may prevent or reduce the effect of an infection caused by a pathogenic organism. They are a group of microbes known collectively as probiotics (literally meaning "pro life," indicating that they are bacteria and yeasts that enhance health rather than deplete it).

Your digestive tract is like a rain forest ecosystem with billions of bacteria and yeasts rather than trees, frogs, and leopards (although it is home to uninvited guests such as parasites). Probiotics are the internal inhabitants that are helpful to your body-they help the functions of the digestive system and reduce the presence of health-depleting organisms by competing with them for the limited space available, literally suffocating or overtaking them.

Probiotics are health-enhancing living creatures, not chemicals; therefore, they can sustain themselves in your gastrointestinal tract unless something comes along to damage or kill them, such as antibiotics. Because they are living organisms, not drugs, that you are transplanting to your digestive tract, it is necessary to take them regularly. Each time you do, you reinforce the beneficial bacterial colonies in your body, gradually pushing out harmful bacteria and yeasts growing there.

The following protocol has been helpful in overcoming and preventing vaginal infections:

Mix the contents of two to four capsules of probiotics with warm water (not hot) and use as a douche.

The following protocol can be used to prevent and reverse inflammatory gum disease:
  • Brush and floss your teeth before bed and rinse vigorously.
  • Open one capsule of a probiotic complex and empty onto tongue. Allow saliva to fill your mouth and swish for about 2-3 minutes, swallow and go to bed without eating or drinking anything. This allows the health-enhancing bacteria to penetrate the tissues and overtake the health-depleting bacteria within the gingival tissue.
Disruption of Our Intestinal Rain Forest
Many things can disturb the balance of your "intestinal rain forest" by killing or overtaking the health-enhancing bacteria. When this happens, harmful bacteria and yeasts move in and flourish- not unlike an enemy army, being better armed, overtaking an army without enough ammunition. The common consequence of this overtaking are vaginal and bladder yeast infections, as well as other generalized infections that result from a weakened defensive intestinal force.

Whenever you take antibiotics, you should take probiotics as soon as your antibiotic course is completed, and continue taking it for ninety days. This is important because antibiotics don't just kill the disease-causing bacteria; they kill all the bacteria-the good, bad and the ugly, leaving our intestinal ecosystem extremely vulnerable to being overtaken by healthdepleting bacteria again. Generally, especially in infants, children, and the infirmed, if an antibiotic is consumed without being followed by a probiotics supplement, you can just about mark the calendar for a new illness to emerge within six to eight weeks.

Re-seeding Our Intestinal Rain Forest
One of the most well known strains of probiotics is acidophilus (contained in yoghurt, kefir, cheese, and fermented foods). However, a healthy intestinal terrain is one in which a critical balance is maintained between various groups of these bacteria, such as lactobacilli, streptococci, and bifidobacterium. If an imbalance exists, it's like having an army trained in only one strategy for defense.

Any unhealthy conditions like excessive stress, onset of disease, ingestion of antibiotics and/or some classes of prescription medications, insufficient food and rest, and harmful environmental conditions may endanger the fine balance in the intestinal terrain, resulting in the reduction of healthenhancing bacteria in the gut.

The beneficial properties in the DDS-1 strain of L. acidophilus, based on internationally reputable documented research, are as follows:
  • Production of enzymes such as proteases that help digest proteins, as well as lipases that digest fat
  • Production of B vitamins-biocatalysts in food digestion
  • Production of a natural antibiotic, acidophilin, which has been patented, and bulgarican, which is produced from L. bulgaricus
  • Inhibits growth of 23 toxic producing microorganisms
  • Contains anticarcinogenic and anti-tumor properties
  • Assists in the alleviation of lactose intolerance caused by the deficiency of the enzyme lactase. L. acidophilus cultures produce significant quantities of lactase, which may help digest lactose (milk products), thereby reducing the occurrence of bad breath, bloating, gas formation, and stomach cramps
  • Inhibits gastrointestinal and uro-pathogens, reducing the occurrence of diarrhea and urinary and vaginal infection.
  • Enhances calcium metabolism, which can prevent low bone density and osteoporosis
  • Reduces serum cholesterol levels
  • Helps alleviate dermatitis and other skin disorders by modifying and improving gastrointestinal microbial balance.ł
General Benefits Demonstrated from Probiotics:
  • Controlled clinical studies have defined a role for probiotics in the prevention of allergy development in infants at risk for atopic dermatitis
  • Extending periods of remission for patients with inflammatory bowel disease
  • Probiotic products may provide special benefits to aging consumers and to people faced with challenging life situations such as stress, antibiotic treatment or travel.
Reaping What We Sow
Probiotics are not a magic bullet; they are however, the health-maintaining and health-enhancing organisms that work 24/7 towards one goal: reinoculating our intestinal terrain with "ammunition" to overcome "enemy" infiltration, thereby supporting our overall immune defenses, Naturally.

For information regarding a local distributor of Caprobiotics Plus™ and Caprobiotics™ Shelf-Stable (perfect for traveling and when refrigeration is not available), the probiotic blends used and recommended by Dr. Gilbčre, contact Mt. Capra tollfree at 1-800-574-1961 or visit their Web site at www.mtcapra.com-manufacturers of premium whole-food nutritionals and nutraceuticals, made in the USA since 1928.

References:
  1. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or disorder.
  2. Faber, S.M. "Irritable bowel syndrome and reinoculation with probiotics." Am. J. Gastroenterology 2002; 97:A2n.
  3. Nebraska Cultures Varied References.
Dr. Gloria Gilbčre is a traditional naturopath, homeopath and doctor of natural health. She is internationally respected as an authoritative influence in the causes, effects and drug-free solutions for leaky gut syndrome, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, and chemically induced immune system disorders. She is author of I was Poisoned by my body, Invisible Illnesses, Nature's Prescription Milk, and her latest release Pain/ Inflammation MATTERS. For details regarding consulting, health education vacations with Dr. Gilbčre, and an archive of her articles, visit her Web site at www.mtcapra.com
 
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